Havana, Cuba, Jul 19, 2004 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Cuban dissident leaders are expressing grave concern for the health of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a leading pro-life Cuban dissident who is currently a political prisoner for his defense of human rights and his opposition to abortion and the death penalty.

Because of his work for Human Rights, especially for the unborn, Dr. Biscet has been given prison sentences on several occasions, the most recent for 25 years.

His wife, Elsa Morejon, has launched a worldwide call for help to improve the conditions in which her husband is being held. Dr. Biscet has been placed in solitary confinement, in a small room completely dark, and has been prohibited from receiving visitors, and food and medicine from his family, despite suffering from hypertension and other infections which, according to his wife, “are continuing to erode his health.”

Cuban exiles have issued a call, especially to the Church, to “do everything possible for Dr. Biscet, that his wife, Elsa, and his entire family might feel the solidarity and support of his family in the Faith.”